Page 43 of Elven Crown

Rowan was making fun of her again, only now, he skirted around the topics that were way too dangerous to discuss in the open like this, surrounded by fellow Shade members all focusing on their assignments.

Rebecca plastered a tight smile onto her lips and replied, “I’ve had my fair share of experience, yes.”

“Man. It is sogoodto see you,Kilda’ari. Even here. Thriving like this. You know, I have to say, I definitely didn’t expect to see you acting as the head of anything.”

“There was a time when I wouldn’t have,” she muttered. “But time changes a lot of things.”

She scanned the secondary armory and the tables of operatives disassembling and cleaning and reassembling their weapons, pouring all her focus into deliberately not looking down at the Blackmoon Elf gazing up at her.

But when Rowan chuckled again, the last of her resolve melted away, as if suddenly warmed by the sound of his laughter. Onlynow, hearing it in person, did she realize how much she’d missed that sound.

Rebecca broke her own rule and looked down at him just to see what he would do next.

Rowan’s face lit up as he smiled at her—a smile meant just for her—and leaned toward her in his seat. Somehow, he made sitting in a chair beside her to address his new commander look as casual as every other interaction.

As if he had no idea she now commanded this entire task force and wouldn’t have thought any differently of her even if someone had told him.

But he knew, all right. He just didn’t care about the rules in this world, even while visiting Earth for himself.

The look he gave her made her want to be comfortable around him again. To be with the Rowan Blackmoon she used to know instead of this faded shell of what she remembered—a shell with a personal agenda, the details of which she could only guess.

She didn’t want the details, and this wasn’t the Rowan Blackmoon she used to know.

It couldn’t be, not when she was no longer the same Rebecca Bloodshadow who had left him behind so many centuries ago.

“You’re not wrong,” he told her, a conspiratorial lilt to his words. “Time does change a lot. Then again, in some ways, time doesn’t change a thing.”

Then he winked.

No. Absolutely not.

Rebecca wouldnothave any kind of meaningful conversation with him. Not here in the secondary armory, not in front of any other Shade members, not alone, not ever.

With one look and a few short, vague replies, she’d given Rowan far too much room to weasel her into the kinds of complex traps he created with his words, and she wouldn’t let herself fall for it anymore.

“Careful, Blackmoon,” she told him, trying to sound as terse and disconnected as she possibly could. “That borders on highly inappropriate behavior toward your commander.”

“Huh.” He blinked at her several times before his knowing smirk returned. Then he held her gaze with a ferocity she’d all but forgotten. “Another thing I never thought I’d hear you say.”

This wasn’t working. She was trying to shut him down, to get him to stop talking, but even the smallest interaction with him just kept drawing her closer, deeper into his trap. The more she actively tried to avoid it through any method but explicitly ignoring him, the faster she’d play right into his hands.

She remembered that much about him too.

Forget a private conversation. Rebecca had to keep her mouth shut, or she’d find herself entrapped by her own words before she knew it, and she couldn’t very well run away fromherself.

With a snort, she nodded at the partially disassembled firearm laid out in front of him on the table and murmured, “Just clean your weapon.”

The sudden softness in Rowan’s eyes felt like he was begging her to stay. Like he knew he pushed too hard and too far sometimes and would have apologized for it if they hadn’t been surrounded by an audience.

It was a look that almost made Rebecca regret having avoided him even for this long.

“Sure, I can clean my weapon,” he replied, then patted the seat of the chair beside him. “If you come sit with me.”

Just like that, the guilt Rebecca wasn’t used to feeling disappeared.

Centuries apart, and he was still the same old Rowan she remembered. Most of him, anyway. She hadn’t had a chance to see all of him yet, but now that he’d officially sworn in as a Shade operative, she would have plenty of time to figure it out.

As if he could read her mind, Rowan broke into another grin and wiggled his eyebrows before patting the empty chair again.

---